New regulation on the open-access requirement for doctoral theses

Based on ETH Zurich’s revised Ordinance on Doctoral Studies, exemptions from the open-access publication requirement is now only possible with a time limit and if the reason for the retention are specified.

In November 2013 ETH Zurich revised the Ordinance on Doctoral Studies. The new version no longer includes the possibility of generally waiving the publication of a doctoral thesis via the ETH E-Collection institutional repository. Upon request, however, the publication can take place with an embargo of one or three years.

ETH-Bibliothek implemented the corresponding regulation in ETH E-Collection’s publication process on 1 June 2014. Doctoral students can now – while they are uploading their doctoral theses – complete a request for a temporary non-publication of the full text and submit it to ETH-Bibliothek and the Doctoral Administration.